Friday, July 11, 2014

Special Knack of catching up with the Technical aspects is a special trait in Sanjana- Captain M.R. Ravindra

14year
old Sanjana Shyam has just come off a Gold medal in Sub Junior Girls (fours)
Nationals in Calcutta and the excitement in her face is quite palpable. But her
feet are firmly rooted to the ground for she believes that this is just the
beginning and that there is a long way to go in realising her ultimate dream
that of rowing for the country and winning a gold medal.

And
her captain and mentor Captain M. R. Ravindra believes she is champion
material. He pays glowing tribute to the young rower. ‘Sanjana has great
potential to make it big in rowing at the international level. She has
tremendous grit and a special knack of catching up with the technical aspects
of rowing, which is important at this initial stage of her career. She is also
a disciplined girl.’

‘She
is currently on the right path and has all the right attributes to make it big.
And with hard work and discipline, has it in her to carve a name at the
national level.’

Quits Badminton to take up Rowing

Sanjana
was a top 8 ranked player at the state junior level in badminton a couple of years ago but a
combination of distance and cost led her to saying it ‘quits to badminton’ at a
time when she seemed to be doing well.

It
was watching her mother Saraswathi (who had represented the state in rowing in
the early 1990s) row at the Madras Boat Club that inspired Sanjana to take the
‘dip’ into the Adyar River.

Later,
Captain Ravindra pushed Sanjana’s mother to get Sanjana initiated into rowing.
Ravindra had his reasons. ‘Rowing is a non impact Sport. Chances of injuries
are less. And it provides peace and solitude to the rower. More importantly, it
helps you improve on your co-ordination skills and the ability to work as a
team as even the slightest mistake by a player in the fours could spoil the
team’s chances. Hence each of the four players has to co-ordinate to get the
best results for the team.’

Rigorous Training

If
the early wins are any indication, Sanjana seems to have made the right move. And
in this quest, she is training very hard. 6times a week, she wakes up at 5am
and is off to the boat club before rushing off to school, even having her
breakfast during her drive to the school. Back from school, she is back into
the waters, atleast twice or thrice a week, to improve her timing in the
doubles sculls and fours that she currently specialises in. The Ergometer
tracks her fitness levels and she is constantly being monitored on various
fronts.

Sanjana’s
younger sister Shilpa is her best friend and fan. She keeps complete track of
Sanjana’s schedules and adjusts to her elder sister in a way that is a delight
to her parents.

With
Rowing requiring round the year training at varied intensities, the early
morning schedule is one that her parents too are getting accustomed to. Her
parents wake up at the knock of five every morning to drop her at the MBC and
pick her back to then drop her at school.

Captain
Ravindra , who himself was a national
champion in 1982, cautions Sanjana of growting expectations and the need to
keep improving. He is pleased with the
fact that her parents are very supportive, especially given that this is not a glamourous
sport and is not necessarily financially lucrative at the moment for rowers in
India.

Ravindra
draws an interesting analogy. ‘This is more like kite flying. Only the person
flying it enjoys it. Rowing is a very technical sport, even more technical than
Golf.At the moment, there is not much
limelight on it in India. It is the last amateur sport in the world. Hence, you
need to have passion and a drive to row. And at the moment, Sanjana seems to
have the passion to progress to the next phase.’

Rowing,
in the long run, could throw open significant higher education opportunities
for young rowers like Sanjana, if they continue to pursue this sport. ‘It is
the oldest collegiate sport in the West. And Sanjana is likely to be welcomed
with open hands by the Universities in the UK and Australia if she performs to
the best of her potential in the next 5-6years.’

Ravindra believes
that Sanjana is currently in the ‘grounding’ phase of rowing. With age on her
side, she can focus the next two years on developing her skill sets and getting
into peak fitness including reaching a height of 5.5”/ 5.7” and the appropriate
weight. Once into the Junior Category, her progress can be rapid, if she
practices hard over the next two years.